Messianic End Times – A Christian and Jewish Perspective - by Ludwig Schneider, Israel Today

Jews and Christians both believe that we are living in the Messianic End Times. Jews were already predicting the End Times some 800 years ago, right around the time Christian End Times eschatology really got going.

One of the most important rabbis in connection with this theme of the End Times is Judah Ben Samuel, also known as Judah he-Hasid (Judah the Pious).  He lived and worked from the end of the 12^th century until the beginning of the 13^th century in Regensburg, Germany and authored a number of books. I would like to single out two of his works: “The Book of the Pious – Sefer Hasidim” and the “Book of Calculations – Sefer Gematriyot,” which deals with biblical numerology and astrology.

Following the Christian crusades to the Holy Land (1096-1270) a regular correspondence developed between the Jews in the Holy Land and the Christian Occident in the West. Thus, for example, the rabbis in Worms and Regensburg in Germany knew that Saladin’s Ayyubids had been ruling in the Holy Land since 1187.

At this time the Rabbi of Regensburg, Judah the Pious, published the results of his biblical calculations (Gematria) and astrological observations and summarized as follows:

“When the Ottomans (Turks) – who were already a power to be reckoned with on the Bosporus in the time of Judah Ben Samuel – conquer Jerusalem they will rule over Jerusalem for eight jubilees. Afterwards Jerusalem will become no-man’s land for one jubilee, and then in the ninth jubilee it will once again come back into the possession of the Jewish nation – which would signify the beginning of the Messianic end time.”

One jubilee is 50 years (Leviticus 25). It is the 50^th year after seven times seven years, the year in which each person should re-gain ownership of his or her land. Ben Samuel’s calculations were purely theoretical; there was absolutely no sign at that time of their being fulfilled. He himself was not able to experience their fulfillment, for it was only 300 years after his death that his predictions were to come true.

The Mamluks, who had been reigning in Jerusalem since 1250, were conquered in 1517 by the Ottomans (Turks). They remained for eight jubilees (8 x 50 = 400 years), that is to say they were in Jerusalem for 400 years. Exactly 400 years later, in 1917, the Ottomans (Turks) were conquered by the British. The League of Nations conferred the Mandate for the Holy Land and Jerusalem (Palestine Mandate) to the British. Thus from 1917, under international law, Jerusalem was no-man’s land.

Then, when Israel captured Jerusalem in the Six Day War of 1967, exactly one jubilee (50 years) after 1917, Jerusalem reverted to Jewish-Israeli ownership once again. Thereby, according to the prophecies of Judah Ben Samuel, the Messianic End Times began.

Many scholars have studied and made reference to Judah Ben Samuel’s writings in an effort to understand how he reached his conclusions. Among those referencing Ben Samuel were Rabbi Isaac Ben Solomon Luria, a mystic dealing with the Messianic world (Jerusalem, 1531-1572, Safed); Joseph Solomon Delmegido (1591 Candia – 1655 Prague), a mathematician and astronomer (“Mazref le-Chochma”), Azulai I. (1724-1806), a famed bibliographer; Samuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865), a Bible scholar;  historian Heinrich Graetz (1817-1891); and Torah scholar Jacob Epstein (1925-1993).

The secret of how Judah the Pious arrived at such accurate predictions has less to do with the actual calculations than it does with the fact that he had consecrated his life to God. His pupils Rabbi Isaac ben Moses (Vienna), Rabbi Baruch ben Samuel (Mainz) and Rabbi Simcha (Speyer) testify that Ben Samuel was a model of abstinence and selflessness and was awaiting with a burning desire the coming of the Messiah.

Ben Samuel was often called “Light of Israel.” Even bishops came to him for advice. If anyone asked him where his wisdom came from he would answer, “The prophet Elijah, who will precede the Messiah, appeared to me and revealed many things to me and emphasized that the precondition for answered prayer is that it is fueled by enthusiasm and joy for the greatness and holiness of God.”

https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/messianic-end-times-from-christian-and-jewish-perspectives/